Nancy Keesee of Victorville, California, a member of our FAIRtax family, passed away on August 12, 2020. She was 79 years old.
Nancy had survived her husband, Richard Keesee and is survived by her two children, Aaron Keesee (Roger Morrow) and Erika Keesee. We thank Nancy's daughter, Erika, for her help in putting this memorial together.
Erika tells us that Nancy started singing at the age of eight. Most of you do not know that Nancy and her sister Louora formed the Nelson Sisters, and they performed all over the country, including touring with Bob Hope’s famous USO Tours.
Nancy received a scholarship to the University of Southern California where she majored in music, classical guitar, but switched her major to German, with a minor in Russian. She organized the first University of Southern California Language Oratory Contest for high school students in Southern California. She graduated with Honors, and later completed her Masters in Educational Administration at California State University, San Bernardino.
Nancy wanted to be a teacher, the kind of teacher that lived for the "Aha!" moment in her students. And she became exactly that. The light bulb going on in her students’ heads inspired her to teach for over 44 years. Her prolific teaching career began at Montebello High School, Montebello, California. It continued for more than four decades at Vista Campana Middle School, Apple Valley Junior High, and Apple Valley High School, all in Apple Valley, California.
Nancy always went the extra step. Each year she took her High School German classes to Mammoth Lakes, California, for an immersive week speaking only German.
Nancy loved astronomy and earth sciences, including geology. She was selected to spend a summer at NASA at a teacher outreach program and trained there. She taught four generations of families. People often came up to “Mrs. Keesee,” recognizing her and letting her know how much she touched their lives.
After her retirement, Nancy embraced the FAIRtax and picked up the mantle of replacing the Income Tax System. I first met Nancy in May 2016 when she came down with John Wesley Nobles and Marty Sturmer to meet me at the Dogtown Coffee House in Santa Monica, California. It was clear that Nancy was not to be sidetracked in her determination to make the FAIRtax law.
In the July 20, 2018 issue of Grassroots Corner, we highlighted Nancy for discovering a Harvard Alum. He was calling for an improvement to President Trump's heralded Phase II tax reform plan. The improvement, of course, was the FAIRtax. Without Nancy, this effort would have been buried.
Nancy was also a motivator to get the grassroots to use POPVOX. She appeared in the February 1, 2019, Grassroots Corner. By then, Nancy had been a member of the California Fair Tax organization for over 12 very active years.
Nancy never let an opportunity pass without putting in a plug for our cause on social media.
We can honor Nancy by continuing her work to make the FAIRtax the law of the land.
Yours In the FAIRtax Movement!
Jim Bennett
AFFT Grassroots Coordinator & Secretary
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